清明

My mother is preparing for the Ching Ming festival. As usual she makes an impressive volume of paper work - money for the underworld (溪錢), paper folded into gold bullion, and so forth.

I always consider all those Chinese rituals in funeral full of science. You know what, papers folded into gold bullion are easier to burn - because of the amount of air inside. Money of the underworld are in fact specially designed: the hot air from an incinerator (or any fire) would suck up a pile of "money" (that is properly put) next to it and burn them piece by piece.

After all, if you go to the funeral of your "good friend" and could not stop laughing, what else is better to bring up your (crocodile) tears than those fume and smoke ?

PS. My mother keeps all her paper crafts in a plastic bag - on which is a picture of the famous Japanese comics: The Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師). It is her sense of humour, I am sure.